Food and beverage colossus Nestlé is going beyond imitation beef and chicken: On October 7, the company announced the debut of two new vegan products designed to mimic eggs and shrimp using soy protein, seaweed, and peas.
Nestlé says the soy-based imitation eggs can be scrambled or used as a baking ingredient, like real eggs. The Swiss company’s imitation shrimp, meanwhile, is made using a blend of pea protein, seaweed, and konjac root.
In a statement, Nestlé’s CTO Stefan Palzer said the new products “have an authentic taste and flavor as well as a favorable nutritional profile.”
“Our longstanding expertise in plant, protein and nutritional sciences enabled our teams to develop these great innovations in under a year,” Palzer said. “As we speak our R&D teams are already preparing the next wave of plant-based launches.”
Nestlé’s latest offerings were developed in Switzerland and Germany, where the products will be tested in a limited number of stores.
According to Allied Market Research, the alternative-meat market is expected to essentially double from $4.5 billion in 2019 to $8.8 billion by 2027. As the market has filled with smaller companies like Beyond Meat Co. and Impossible Foods Inc., larger corporations like Tyson Foods Inc. and Nestlé are attempting to capitalize on the growing trend in favor of imitations of beef, chicken, and other proteins.
